Tackling Mental Health Stigma Through Humour: An Inside Look at the 'Going Loco' Podcast

In this episode of Aligned and Thriving, host Judith Bowtell sits down with Georgia Poletti Moulds and Amanda Robinson, the co-hosts of the podcast Going Loco. Georgia and Amanda met through their interconnected friend groups and discovered a shared passion for using humor to destigmatize conversations around mental health. They discuss the importance of having creative outlets, the challenges and rewards of starting a podcast, and how they balance their busy lives while pursuing their passion project.

Podcast Episode Summary

• Georgia and Amanda share their motivation for starting the podcast Going Loco, which is to use humor to make conversations around mental health more accessible and relatable
• They discuss the process of getting the podcast off the ground, including the 6-month timeline it took to find their voice and format
• The hosts talk about the risks and vulnerabilities of putting their personal experiences with mental health out there, and how they balance their passion with the practical demands of their lives
• Judith, Georgia, and Amanda explore the misconceptions around what mental health conditions "look like" and the importance of normalizing the day-to-day experiences of living with them
• The group discusses the value of creative outlets, even amidst the demands of work and family life, and how they plan to expand Going Loco into new mediums like video content

If you're facing challenges with your mental well-being, please remember, you DON’T have to face it alone. We strongly ENCOURAGE reaching out for SUPPORT. If you need someone to talk to, consider contacting:

- Lifeline at 13 11 14

- Kids Helpline at 1800 551 800

- MensLine Australia at 1300 789 978

- Suicide Call Back Service at 1300 659 467

- Beyond Blue at 1300 22 46 36

- Headspace at 1800 650 890

- QLife at 1800 184 527

Resources Links:

Going Loco Podcast

Outro

Connect with Judith Bowtell on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.bowtell
To learn more about how we can work together: https://www.albanylane.com.au/

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Chapters

• 2:16 Discussion of how Georgia and Amanda started the "Going Loco" podcast and their process for creating it.
• 5:39 Importance of having creative outlets and passion projects, and the balance between structure and spontaneity.
• 9:57 Destigmatizing mental health issues through humor, and the value of lived experiences over just "trauma sharing".
• 15:29 What supports Georgia and Amanda in doing this work, including the role of friendship and community.
• 17:51 Potential future directions for "Going Loco" and other creative projects, and the balance between ambition and realistic expectations.
• 23:02 Discussion about the challenge of balancing creative projects with the demands of daily life, especially for Georgia as a parent. Explores the idea of maintaining a connection to creativity during different life stages.
• 28:46 Advice around setting achievable goals and not being too hard on oneself when taking on new creative challenges. Emphasizes the importance of finding the "learning edge" rather than just pushing oneself out of the comfort zone.
• 33:51 Future plans for Going Loco, including exploring more comedy/performance content.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Judith Bowtell: Hey, everyone. It's Judith, just checking in before our episode starts to remind you that this episode will include mentions of the experience of living with mental health issues, depression and bipolar and other experiences that may be confronting to you. While, the overall episode is positive and strengths based in its approach to mental health. So there's no trauma dumps here. I also know that sometimes this is not what you need to hear about right now. If that is the case, perhaps choose another one of our episodes or catch up with another podcast that you love. And if you're struggling with your mental health, please do not do so alone. There are lots of great resources out there that you can access and we have listed some in the show notes. If you're taking nothing else away from today, remember that nearly everyone is challenged with mental health issues at some point in their lives, either in themselves or in the people they care about. So making a call for support is totally normal, at least in our eyes. So take care and we will see you soon. 

[00:01:12] Judith Bowtell: Hi everybody. It's Judith Bowtell once again here with another episode of Aligned and Thriving. It's great for you to be here. It's great for me that you're here and I'm very excited about today's episode because it's our first doubleheader if you say that. And I have with me two wonderful women. We have Georgia Poletti Moulds and Amanda Robinson. So hi, Georgia and Amanda. 

[00:01:39] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Hi, Judith. 

[00:01:40] Judith Bowtell: It's so lovely to have you here. So Georgia and Amanda are down in Melbourne and they are the hosts of fairly newish podcast called Going Loco. Which is a wonderful program. It's funny, it's lighthearted, but it also gets to some of the truths about living with mental health issues. So I'm going to introduce myself in the way that Georgia and Amanda always do. So hi, I'm Judith and I have depression. 

[00:02:05] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yes. Yes. 

[00:02:08] Amanda: And I'm Amanda and I also have depression. 

[00:02:11] Georgia: And I'm Georgia and I have Bipolar one disorder.

[00:02:16] Judith Bowtell: Fantastic. So Georgia's one of the co hosts she's a trained opera singer and she has three boys. It's bulk dicks at her place. Excellent. Last year, she had a midlife crisis and decided to give stand up comedy a go. Wow. She also entered a competition with The Moth. The long running international storytelling event and podcast. And she won Two of my favourite things in the world and her world are nineties power ballad sing alongs. Oh, yay. And making her cohost Amanda crackle. You can often find her in a panic. Sitting out the front of the tiny house her husband built. She'll have a vino in hand and her whip at Maggie at her feet. Oh, as everyone knows, I'm a complete dog nut. If the wind is blowing the wrong way, the whiff coming off the homemade composting toilet will be nauseating, but they should be soaking up the sunset to the soothing sounds of four stroke motorbikes at full throttle. Her best qualities are my inappropriate affect. Banking your comments for later and having the most labile mood in the room. Okay, what does labile mean?

[00:03:25] Georgia: It means it can go from very high to very low, it's a moving phase.

[00:03:30] Judith Bowtell: Awesome. Awesome. Welcome. Welcome. And your labile mood is very welcome here too.

[00:03:35] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Thank you.

[00:03:37] Judith Bowtell: Can I just say, you've got to go to the Going Loco website because the photos. They're just brilliant. Okay. Particularly Amanda. So Amanda's, So Amanda's a writer. She writes fiction because apparently she hates money. She won the 2018 Affirm Press Mentorship for a manuscript that flags me daily with its unfinishedness. She's a one eyed Collingwood supporter. Oh! Oh, okay. You're still welcome. Though I currently have all my teeth. My two favorite things are my twin sister and my dog Brian. Oh, more dog lovers. You can often find me reading a book beside my open fireplace due to energy prices. Convincing me that 200 worth of firewood per week is more economical. Yeah, kinda can get that. Or taking ridiculously long baths with a book because the fire has out. I've lived in that house. I also had depression. I won't talk about that. Her best qualities are saying yes to everything, being over the top enthusiastic, having more front than Myer when I'm feeling unwell and loving everything you cooked for me because it tastes better than someone else does it. And isn't that one of the truths of life? So welcome, Georgia and Amanda. And I'm just going to really enjoy today. I can see, so so let's start with the question, which is what have you done lately for your work life balance?

[00:05:05] Amanda: Well, with Georgia has dragged me into doing this podcast.

[00:05:09] Judith Bowtell: Ah, excellent. 

[00:05:10] Amanda: So that we have creative outlet in our lives, which is really important to both of us. In terms of work life balance, I think I'd just go crazy if I wasn't working on anything creative. And and because I always say yes to everything. Georgia was a bit manic and she said, Hey, let's start a podcast. And I was like, that's a fantastic idea. All the best ideas. Yeah, absolutely. So that's how it came about. And we've definitely been doing that a lot lately. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:39] Judith Bowtell: Terrific. So having this creative outlet of the podcast. I can relate to that. This has definitely been my happy place over the since I started it this year. How long did it take you guys to get going with yours from the idea to getting off the ground?

[00:05:54] Georgia: It was a long time. 

[00:05:55] Amanda: It was about six months. Wasn't it? Every week and recording, we were trying to find our voice. We hadn't quite like to we were really exploring. What the podcast was going to be and it took us quite a while like we recorded. A lot of recordings and then went, no, it's not it.

[00:06:14] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah.

[00:06:15] Amanda: And also getting to know each other, getting to know each other's story. Yeah. Cause we'd known each other but it's different from sitting down and creating something together. You actually like what works what our strengths were what we want to the thing to look like. Yeah, the tone of it and the format of it. And because George was like, I can just jump on the mic. It'll be fine. I was like, no, goddammit, no. Let's 

[00:06:36] Georgia: jump on and have a chat. 

[00:06:37] Amanda: I was like, it shall be structured to within an inch of its life. So now it's like a kind of a mixture between the two. Yeah, a lot looser bike and a lot 

[00:06:47] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: tighter than George.

[00:06:48] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah.

[00:06:51] Judith Bowtell: It sounds like what's going on in my head. And it took me like three or four years to get going. So six months of nothing. In fact, on the very first interview I did on Aligned and Thriving. I spoke to my very good friend Marlo, who's known me forever. And I think at the end she's saying something about she gave this quote about, if not you, who, if not now, when. And she said, that's what I kept wanting to say to you about the podcast that you just kept talking about and talking about.

[00:07:18] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah

[00:07:19] Judith Bowtell: What do you think I'm doing? So then of course I had to get her on for the first interview.

[00:07:23] Amanda: Yeah, that's Georgia to a T because I would have avoided it and avoided it and Georgia was just even put it out there just get it out there. I think the week that it went out there, we are just spiraled the fucking day. 

[00:07:33] Georgia: You're in Bali, I'm like Amanda, we've been sitting there were just waiting for I think, Podbean or something to the final thing to click into place. And I was like, all right, green flag. We're ready to go. I just dropped my phone and ran away. I just basically ran away from my phone. I went to the beach. George was like, you okay, mate? I'm like, what? What have you done? Terrible.

[00:07:56] Judith Bowtell: Fantastic. This sounds like a huge adventure, let's dive in to talking about it because what we wanted to explore today was the importance of creative outlets, but even more than that, having a passion project, having something you're doing because it's something you feel passionate about. So tell me what you feel passionate about at the moment.

[00:08:17] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think, 

[00:08:20] Georgia: We're really passionate about the why of going loco, which is we've chosen to speak about mental health using humor. Because I think, mental health can be stigmatizing at times, but to use humor really does open up the conversation and I guess it makes hard topics accessible and digestible. And what we wanted to do was create a space where people who've experienced mental health. Issues can really see themselves relate and see themselves reflected. But listeners that haven't experienced mental health issues can also, learn from our experience in what we hope is a fun, relaxed way. And we just wanted to talk about mental health in a way that wasn't so sincere and somber and just bring the lighthearted element to it to destigmatize it. Yeah, that's but that's basically it. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:09:08] Amanda: I'm like, what george has said. Yeah,

[00:09:10] Judith Bowtell: Yeah, great. So this passion to de stigmatize mental health and take it out of the realm of the serious. Cause it is serious, but

[00:09:19] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: It is yeah, absolutely.

[00:09:20] Amanda: It is serious, but I think sometimes the way it's talked about is like with a bit of a head tilt and people want to step away from it. And yeah I'm not having really authentic conversations or that fear around having a conversation. If I ask someone if they're okay, and they say no, then I'm maybe responsible for them or whatnot.

[00:09:37] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:09:39] Amanda: Or even just being able to say, this is going on for me without getting blow back from that. I guess that's where how we want this conversations to roll out because we know it impacts us in our lives about how people are reacting to us. And Yeah, basically don't be afraid.

[00:09:54] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Don't be afraid. be

[00:09:57] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. I remember Natalie Tran talking about, way back in the day when she started making YouTube videos. I don't know. Do you guys know Natalie Tran? Are you? Oh, Natalie Tran was the OG YouTube girl. She started doing little skits where she played all the roles, et cetera, like this. And she had a million subscribers before anyone else was on YouTube and quite a breakout star. So everything she did was comedy and she said she got her comment chops from their parents because they were Vietnamese immigrants. And she said every conversation about immigration is very serious. It's the trauma and the grief and the transitioning. And she said what gets lost is how funny it can be. And that's what her parents would come home and go. Did you realize that here they do things like this da, oh my god, that's hilarious, why would they do that? And they kept finding the funny in what was going on, and so for her that was the same thing, it's let's just find the funny in what's going on, and there is a lot of funny in mental health.

[00:10:57] Amanda: yeah. Yes. I mean, a, comedy is a double, it's like touching the void of, like that kind of dark comedy. Yeah. That flip side, what is it? Tragedy and comedy are like flip sides of each other. So you touch the void and then bring it back. I think, talk about something, it's tense, but then you can break it up with comedy. So we can still say that tense thing. We can still say, Hey, this is like an awful experience that I had. But then here's the funny side of it.

[00:11:19] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:11:20] Amanda: So you still get to hear the negative side of it, but we won't make you sit in it for so long. We'll release 

[00:11:26] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: you. Yeah.

[00:11:27] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Or you do Hannah Gadsby and you don't. But, yeah, I think also, but in terms of creating humanising mental health, remembering there's a human being humour is a great way of connecting people, lading across to people, to other people, you don't have the same barriers when you use comedy.

[00:11:46] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:11:47] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: absolutely. 

[00:11:48] Judith Bowtell: Hmm.

[00:11:48] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:11:49] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Space and being like, please come and sit in this shit with me. No, nobody wants to do it. No,

[00:11:55] Judith Bowtell: So how did you two meet? Where did this all begin?

[00:11:58] Amanda: So we actually have our friendship groups are interconnecting. So we knew each other, but we did bit of a troubled one, I think we both have experienced some pretty serious grief in our past. So my partner passed away at the time, and Georgia and her mum and her sister passed away and I was out at the pub not long after. And Georgia just came up to me she said, why are you outside? And I was like what do you mean? And she was like, I just went to ground after the death that I experienced and my grades made me go to ground and then we just bonded over that and, yeah, and then Georgia joined my book club. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And so we're talking regularly and then Georgia got mad at us and was like, let's do a podcast. And we said 

[00:12:38] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:40] Judith Bowtell: So the great meeting of the one who always says yes to the one who always has the great idea. Fantastic.

[00:12:47] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: be 

[00:12:47] Amanda: dragged through things sometimes, I have a bit of trouble completing things I think. 

[00:12:51] Georgia: Yeah, creatively you will work and rework and work it, which is an awesome quality, but then yeah, I'm like put it out there, so we kind of balance each other well, where you're like no, we need to work a little bit more and I'm like come on, 

[00:13:07] Amanda: I'm going out to the world, right? 

[00:13:11] Judith Bowtell: So how do you keep this energy going? So you've got great energy. Is it just that you it's the connection or is there, is the purpose for the podcast also something that keeps you motivated?

[00:13:22] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Oh, we definitely rile each other up. 

[00:13:25] Amanda: We really rile each other up a lot. As soon as Georgia steps in the door because we meet weekly, even though we go out, we fortnightly, as soon as she walks in the door, I'm talking a million miles an hour at her, she's talking a million miles an hour at me. And we do we care about the topic as well. Yeah, obviously. And also it's it's quite cathartic. For me yeah, absolutely. To be able to talk about it. Yeah, that's nice. That gets the energy. It gets its own energy really. 

[00:13:52] Georgia: And I think. We, there's a comedic energy, isn't it? We're all on the same level. So we're we did another interview recently and I was sitting there wanting to like, riff off what you're saying with jokes. I'm like, no, George, I just let her talk. Let her talk. But I was we're just on the same wavelength in terms of sense of humor. 

[00:14:10] Amanda: Yeah. 

[00:14:10] Georgia: And that's sometimes, it's rare to find like 

[00:14:14] Amanda: someone that like, yeah, that you can rip off. It's actually a real privilege. Yeah. Because I actually have a writing group that I'm part of and someone wanted to introduce someone else into that writing group and our whole group was like no. You've got to protect the energy once you've got something great. Yeah. It is actually a gift, and I think people take it for granted, but to be able to find a group of people that you connect with, that get you, that get your work, that get your humour, 

[00:14:39] Georgia: is huge.

[00:14:39] Georgia: Absolutely, and to protect the idea you're really good at if I come with a real fleeting kind of start germination of an idea. And I think we both give each other no, here, let's go on more. Come on. And, that can be initially confronting when you're like bringing this small. Yeah, you're very, yeah, detecting the idea is. It's a very yeah, it's not, 

[00:15:03] Amanda: nobody wants to bring that baby to someone and be like here and it sounds yeah, someone tell you it's a shit idea. We never say it's a shit idea, which is might need a bit of work or what are you talking about? Use more words because I know you're on to something. Because good ideas have energy. Ah, absolutely. Talking about this and I was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. But I can feel the energy there. And you just need to use more words and we'll get there. And we'll be able to make this into a thing.

[00:15:29] Georgia: And that's your real skill set, I think, too. Is digging in and asking those questions and yeah I'm continuously excited about the possibility of what we can create. 

[00:15:39] Georgia: Yeah, 

[00:15:40] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: I think. 

[00:15:41] Georgia: Yes.

[00:15:42] Judith Bowtell: The passion seems to bounces off the walls. Do you have any I've worked a lot with creative people in my past and do you have any sort of structure or I don't want to say rules, but do you have any sort of thing that contains that energy, that it brings the ideas to life? Do you have a process or, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:16:02] Georgia: It was that balance of being semi planned but also spontaneous. So I'll often hold back like, I'll have jokes and I'm working my head and I'm like, Amanda, I'm not going to tell you until we're on the bike. So I want to capture that. Energy, but then we've worked at it. We do need to sit down beforehand and to have, these topics and to have sub topics that we do want to hit with that, but it's a real fine balancing act. If we write too many notes, then we're 

[00:16:29] Amanda: reading off the notes and then we don't get the conversational plan that we're looking for. George and I are often on the same page, not always on the same page with yourself, but we can read each other well. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:16:41] Judith Bowtell: Well I think that's really important, that ability to balance each other in the moment and also being willing to give the other person freedom to do what they want to do. You trust them to bring what's needed into the space. Yeah. Yeah. So do you plan your episode how long in advance? What is your process? How do you

[00:17:00] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: that's all over the

[00:17:03] Judith Bowtell: That's encouraging for all of us podcasters out here. That it's sometimes a 

[00:17:07] Amanda: is we will discuss, we will get a topic and we meet every Thursday, we record probably every second Thursday. And then the in between one is discussing what topics we might, or doing admin or whatever, or just hanging out, because sometimes we turn up and we don't want to. Yeah, I'll get like super avoidant and I'll be like, I'm like, 

[00:17:25] Georgia: we're three hours into this chat event. I don't think we're recording tonight, are we? Yeah. And I'm like, 

[00:17:29] Amanda: thanks for reading the room. No, I'm not ready 'cause I'm not maybe in the right space. Yeah. Like head space or anything to think more about the topic that we have decided on.

[00:17:38] Georgia: Yeah. 

[00:17:38] Amanda: Yeah. 

[00:17:39] Georgia: I think sometimes consuming if we are talking about a topic, we might try and consume, read the same book or listen to the same podcast or something. So we've got some external input to riff off. 

[00:17:51] Amanda: Yeah, I think that helps. And sometimes that content for me personally needs to settle a bit, or I need to listen to it a few times to understand where I'm, what my take is. Yeah, which is why we do it fortnightly because George was like, what's going on weekly? And I was like, are you serious? Yeah, that's yeah. 

[00:18:08] Georgia: Good call. Great I was thinking, I can't imagine if we could get paid for this and we could devote all that time to it. And we had a producer or Oh, wow. What it could be. With the air. The sound would be great. 

[00:18:21] Amanda: She would be happy. Yeah. Our sound is currently done by Georgia's husband who does have skills in that. He does, but he's a bit long suffering in terms of we, he's like, why can't you just get the sound right? He's you need a checklist at the start. And then we got, we're about content. Not good. He was like, not even interested in that. I'm 

[00:18:42] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: interested in whether it sounds good. Yeah.

[00:18:45] Judith Bowtell: Sound is a constant struggle with the podcast and the Zoom but look, one of my most popular podcasts. The sound is a bit ropey, but it zoomed up the charts. It was like one of my breakout episodes, one of my breakout episodes. Like I've been doing this for years, but it really was. And it was like I know nothing then about audience. I don't understand anything. I'll just keep doing what I think is best. We'll turn it out. Yeah. So

[00:19:13] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: People 

[00:19:13] Amanda: are forgiving for if you are producing content that's engaging, then I think there is a level of forgiveness.

[00:19:20] Judith Bowtell: yeah.

[00:19:21] Amanda: I've been like, what's up with the sound? And I was like, yeah, righto. And 

[00:19:25] Georgia: Another frame is I can come and help you with the sound, and I'm like, no, we'll get there.

[00:19:29] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Yeah. So you've got a background in a friendship. You obviously trust and know each other really well. You have a similar sense of humor and you're also both passionate about the subject matter. And you've obviously researched it and come with lived experience.

[00:19:46] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah.

[00:19:46] Judith Bowtell: Yeah, which is so important to be listening to that as well. There's great podcasts with experts, but we don't often hear the voice from people with lived experience.

[00:19:58] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: And also they're also 

[00:19:59] Amanda: trying to, A thing that we don't do is offer solutions. No, there's no, yeah, we're not trying to help you. Like we just like as you are. Yep. Yeah. We understand it's an ongoing battle and get better. Yeah.

[00:20:12] Georgia: Come and sit in the space with us and have a laugh and 

[00:20:15] Amanda: yeah. 

[00:20:16] Georgia: Maybe you find something that you can relate to, into the serious side of what we experienced, but to have a laugh about it as well 

[00:20:23] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: and just turn up as you are.

[00:20:24] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah,

[00:20:24] Judith Bowtell: yeah, I remember I listened to quite a few of your episodes, but the one about grief, which, yeah, and you were talking about after you'd lost your partner and explaining how you had to move out of your

[00:20:38] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: I, yeah,

[00:20:39] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:20:40] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: the rental, and I just couldn't afford

[00:20:42] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Yeah. And so that's part of.

[00:20:45] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: it.

[00:20:46] Judith Bowtell: And then people came, were coming in and checking the house and asking why you were moving and you said, Oh, my partner died. And the reaction starts to be a little bit like, Oh, okay.

[00:20:56] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Shock then, to be fair. But that is honestly why I was moving out, so

[00:21:01] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. And I really related to that because I remember after my mother died, and people say, you catch up with the people and go, what have you been going on with? Oh, my mother died. And then I would tell them the story of her death. It was quite sort of an extraordinary testimony to her strength of will in that, she was told she was dying and she basically just died. Hanging around for all this palliative care nonsense. But, boom. And our lady, she did, Oh that was great. But I remember I just kept telling him the story and then occasionally I'd go, Oh, by the way, are you okay with me talking about this to people? And mostly they're friends. So they were very nice. So they'd say no, it's really important that we talk about this because most people don't and da. And we'd have a great conversation. But I do remember how, when you are in that sort of state of shock after somebody passes on how weirdly open and honest and just

[00:21:47] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: So raw.

[00:21:48] Judith Bowtell: It was just all out there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I found it incredibly relatable. And as many other episodes do and you're right, there's no solution. It's just that's a shared experience and, oh God, it's just so refreshing to be able to hear them in an Australian accent.

[00:22:11] Amanda: selling 

[00:22:12] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: you something at the end, do you like, Oh, okay.

[00:22:14] Judith Bowtell: So there's a passion here. Do you ever think that's sometimes a risk? That it is such a something you feel so connected to that you might lose objectivity about what you're doing? Is there a risk that you might lose yourself in the passion and not be able to see it objectively anymore, that you're dealing with something so close to your heart and so important to you that you might get overwhelmed. By the emotion of doing the work, in a way that might not be as helpful for the project as you want it to be. 

[00:22:44] Georgia: I think, one thing that I felt was a risk was the vulnerability of it and the stuff that we shared initially. I was quite confronted by that at times having a vulnerability hangover and going, oh, my God my work colleagues are going to know this about me, just putting it all out there in a way that I never have before was quite terrifying, so I think that's probably more the risk that I felt about. It was like the vulnerability and just putting it all out there and how raw it was and how the stigma around it and I guess a bit of shame around, and knowing that it's on the internet now and future employers can look at that and I don't I think that was my probably biggest risk concern. What about you, Amanda? 

[00:23:27] Amanda: The risk for me was around having to show up probably fear is a big one for me. Is that if I start this, I'm going to have to finish it. Besides the risk factor, the risk factor, that fear factor, I think because there's two of us a lot of that is actually mitigated because we can pull each other up. Sometimes you'll be like no, I wanted to do this. I wanted to, and I'll be like, she'll tell us five stories at the start of the episode. And I'm like mate, you've got three. That's it max, you can make your decision. 

[00:23:58] Georgia: You want to get to the topic and I'm like, it's all about the banter like, the comedy yeah, I get caught up in that.

[00:24:04] Judith Bowtell: yeah.

[00:24:06] Amanda: Although I know what you mean by this is an interesting one because I'm transitioning currently out of a freelance role that gave me lots of flexibility into the construction industry. And obviously at the moment, I'm just working with my brother, getting my skills up and we're doing projects with families. So there's a lot of flexibility. So I'm only working 4 days a week, which is probably not a reality moving forward, but it didn't even occur to me to not be available on Friday. 

[00:24:36] Georgia: And you got pulled up for that a little bit, didn't 

[00:24:38] Amanda: you? Yeah, my brother was like, oh, how's the old lady half arse in it, not coming to work on a Friday. And I was like, but I have to podcast. So I see what you mean. And I had to actually reflect on that and be like, okay, initially, is it reasonable if I'm trying to do this goal? Is it reasonable for that life work balance to look like that? For how long can I get away with this kind of thing? Obviously, if I was waiting for in a more. If I was hired by a builder or something like that, it would look different. But at this time in my life, as I'm transitioning and building skills in that area, my priority is actually almost outside work.

[00:25:15] Amanda: Yeah, and people tell me that's absurd. Seems absurd to me. Yeah,

[00:25:22] Judith Bowtell: yeah,

[00:25:23] Amanda: Don't know because it's not a paid gig. 

[00:25:24] Judith Bowtell: But there's an incredible purpose behind what you're doing, even if it's not a paid gig. Which is about influencing the environment in which we're living. Who to quote a good friend of mine, who's quoting somebody, I'll have to go and check the reference. But in the very first episode, where I did an interview for Aligned and Thriving, I was talking to my good friend, Marlo Newton. And she said, one of the guiding principles in her life is. If not you, who? And if not now, when? And I was thinking, if it's not you guys doing this, who will do it?

[00:25:58] Amanda: Yeah. And yeah, I guess someone's got to do it. Don't I allow themselves to do it because I think I was probably went into it thinking, Oh yeah. 

[00:26:09] Georgia: How can it be? And that might've been a bit And then it has probably been learning curve, emotionally hard at times. It's been more rewarding, but probably harder than I thought it would be. Yeah. And just all the tech stuff behind it. There's just so much to it. Cause I'm an avid podcast listener. They appear in your ears as these perfectly formed conversations.

[00:26:30] Amanda: It's so much work behind it now to 

[00:26:34] Georgia: realize the amount of work behind it. It's yeah, Wow. 

[00:26:38] Georgia: Wow. 

[00:26:40] Amanda: That's funny, because we were talking with you, Judith, and I think some of your listeners will probably know this, like that 60 percent comfort zone where it's like fun and good and you're enjoying it and satisfying. And then the other 20 percent is like challenging. And then what was the other 20%? Oh, you just flat out hater.

[00:26:55] Judith Bowtell: Oh, it's stuff you could be good at it, but you no longer want to do it. Or it's stuff you're no good at, but you never really want to be good at it. Yeah. Yeah. So it's stuff you don't want to be doing.

[00:27:04] Amanda: Yeah, this podcast is definitely 60%. Yeah. Might even higher than that. Yeah. Yeah. The checks definitely in that 20%. Things I don't wanna do and never wanna learn. Yeah. Yeah. But the content's pushing up to, yeah. Another 80%. Absolutely. Absolutely. So it's not yet, it's fun.

[00:27:22] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Oh, that's important. So it is ticking that box of fun, humor all those other values as well. That's obviously really important to you. I was going to say, the other thing that's really great about the podcast and having these conversations is that so much of lived experience of mental health is keynote speakers and stuff like that. They always have to tell the trauma,

[00:27:43] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: Yeah.

[00:27:43] Judith Bowtell: Trauma sharing. Like you've got to my story involved, that time I hit rock bottom and I wanted to, dah. And it's one, that's quite damaging for the person telling, and it can also be quite damaging for the people listening. Remember thinking, how can we have these conversations without people having to go through trauma in sharing experiences and because often that's a barrier to sharing lived experiences, that people want your story, people want your bad experience of mental health, like the days where it was really hard. Or you didn't get support or you're, you were struggling without care or you wanted to hurt yourself or all these things. And it's Oh mate, you don't get that. I'm not telling you those experiences. No.

[00:28:28] Amanda: I feel also because it's such a long journey as well that people like, oh, I think it's the day to dayness that we like about it. Because obviously I've had big periods of depression, but yeah, mainly it's the day to dayness of how that feels, the ups and downs of that because that grief experience, obviously. That was a depressive episode, but then like lots of people are experiencing grief and that's probably a standard response to can be a standard response to it. Yeah, but it's actually when nothing is going on and you're still feeling depressed. That is. That's the story. 

[00:29:00] Judith Bowtell: All the story is also you have depression and you're managing it.

[00:29:05] Georgia: Yes. Ah, that's huge for me with the bipolar because I often have people going, Oh, I wouldn't have known you had bipolar. And I just wouldn't have known. I'm like what do you think this looks like? And people just go, Oh, but you've got a job and you've got kids and normal. A huge, I think, misconception about what it looks like to, what it can look like to live and manage bipolar or any serious, complex mental health condition, as they call it. Yeah, so it's nice to smash down that. Yeah. Do you want to start with it? Because it's interesting.

[00:29:42] Judith Bowtell: yeah, 

[00:29:42] Amanda: Yeah, we've had some tense conversations. I'm happy to be the problem be corrected.

[00:29:47] Judith Bowtell: yeah, because I remember back in the day when I was working film policy and at the time I remember being contacted by someone who was running a campaign about representations of mental health on film. Because, we can all, my life actually depression it's actually quite boring.

[00:30:07] Amanda: Just watch be in bed.

[00:30:10] Judith Bowtell: Yeah, it's not that interesting. That's the problem. Your life becomes really dull and closed and shut down a bit. So it's not standing in the garden shed with the gardener. It's not contemplating ending your life. A lot of it's not that. It's just not feeling like it's worth it. It's normalizing of the experience of mental health and I guess it also helps people to perhaps look at their own life and go, oh shit, is that what's going on for me?

[00:30:39] Amanda: Yeah,

[00:30:40] Judith Bowtell: Yeah, because I just accepted that bad days were part of my existence.

[00:30:44] Amanda: That's what it looks like. Yeah,

[00:30:47] Judith Bowtell: Until somebody went, do you think it could be depressed? And I was like, maybe I am. And not rejecting it outright, not going, Oh no. I don't get depressed. That's not something that happens to people like me.

[00:30:57] Amanda: I was like, no, he's going on and but they often say that things are going on because you're depressed. Yeah like, having a hard time at work, having a hard time with relationships and stuff. It's actually, and people will be like, oh, that's caused depression. You're like, no, actually, it's probably that's the depression. That's the depression causing that.

[00:31:14] Judith Bowtell: Exactly. Yeah.

[00:31:16] Episode 17 - Georgia and Amanda: resilience.

[00:31:17] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. And I think what's really important is that sometimes it's just you've got a digestive issue, it's going to cause you to feel sick, not feel like sick. Yeah. So it's the same thing. It's yeah, if you're feeling irritable that you're feeling extra sensitive about something.

[00:31:32] Judith Bowtell: What else supports you in doing this work? So it's obviously something you passionately care about the values of humour we've talked about, the values of friendship. What other values do you think are supporting you to keep doing this amongst your really busy and complex lives?

[00:31:46] Amanda: If I didn't do anything creative I would feel like a useless member of society. Yeah. 

[00:31:51] Judith Bowtell: Right,

[00:31:52] Georgia: All throughout my working life, I've always had a creative side projects that initially it was like music, doing family music classes in the community, and then it was like running a choir in primary school then it was running another family music class at the kid's school and then now it's this, I've always had kind of something on the side.

[00:32:12] Amanda: I'm always writing. Yeah. Always. And I've done work in the writing space as well but yeah, always had something on the go. Like, when people say they're bored, I just find that a bizarre concept, because there's so many things. There's not enough hours in the day as far as I'm concerned to cram in something, which is also probably putting pressure on myself and whatnot, but that, goes hand in hand. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I feel like I literally just recently finished a project with a woman who I just love, we're collaborating on a TV series. And we've just finished up what we were doing, and then she got an email with me tentatively, and I was like, oh, and proposed another project. And I was like, yeah, great, jump on, where can we start? Because I always like to have creative things going on. And that's how I connect with people as well. And how I'm part of the community because being single with no kids, you start to feel the void, a little bit.

[00:33:08] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:33:08] Amanda: How am I spending my time? Who do I want to spend it with? And other people that are passionate about, in some writing groups and stuff. So yeah 

[00:33:16] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Great. Yeah. Okay, so we talked about passion, we talked about what supports you. It talks about the values. If you had a chance to, one, would you do this again? If you felt you'd done enough with Going Loco, do you think you'd wanna do another podcast or is it too early to tell at this point?

[00:33:33] Amanda: I'm working on a creative, a fiction podcast because I listen to a lot of fiction podcasts with revelation. So it's like a radio play, I love because in so much, I love having my world explained back to me in beautiful prose.

[00:33:46] Judith Bowtell: ah,

[00:33:47] Amanda: I see fiction, so I listen to a lot of fictions. I'm working on a fiction, it's a six part of fiction, which incorporates music actually. 

[00:33:56] Georgia: Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I think. I see maybe us heading down the comedy route and doing some more projects in that space. I'm really interested in trying out a bit more stand up comedy and comedy performance. I think there's some stuff for us to do in that space. That's part of where I maybe see, yeah, us heading as well as the podcast. 

[00:34:17] Amanda: Hiding behind. Going loco rather than doing straight comedy. Yeah, because that's risky.

[00:34:25] Judith Bowtell: yeah.

[00:34:26] Georgia: That immediate feedback of whether the room laughs or not is quite confronting. Yeah.

[00:34:32] Judith Bowtell: But it's a great way start isn't it? Of going, okay, we'll start here. Which, you've got to start somewhere. And then developing the skill as you keep doing it. But you've got to do it to develop the skill. There's no other way to actually learn how to do this.

[00:34:47] Georgia: Learning process. I think where so annoying. Yeah. You have to do it and you're right. It's not you're developing that skill and that is confronting, but to get there, you've got to do it. Yeah. 

[00:34:56] Amanda: And you expect to I don't know I think this is a big thing. It's expecting that I know it already which is like absurd. Why would I know this already? You start a new job as well. You're often like, Oh, I'm not getting it. And you're not supposed to go. It's a new role. Even though it might be the skillset that you've used in other roles it's going to look different. It's going to feel different. It's going to behave differently. So you just have to do the work to learn it. Yeah.

[00:35:20] Judith Bowtell: I couldn't agree more, like learning how to craft, maybe I'm not doing it too well, that idea of how do you craft an interview? How do you actually use that? Yeah. So what's the kind of the next thing you guys are up to? What's happening with Going Loco over the next few months?

[00:35:35] Amanda: It's going to be the video is more. Yeah, we're wanting to get into content creation. Yeah, a bit of a tick tock space. . 

[00:35:48] Georgia: Yeah. We've got a document full of ideas so when I'm manic, the idea is I'm just catching them. And then when you're feeling better, you're like okay, what can we work with? And I think we've got a few kind of funny videos that we want to get out. 

[00:36:01] Amanda: Yeah. But I guess with the time, you're spending so much time chatting and then doing the recording and stuff, but we've both been like, yeah, we need to start looking at, yeah, some more comedy based videos, which is another steep learning curve.

[00:36:15] Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:15] Judith Bowtell: Oh, gotcha. Yeah.

[00:36:17] Georgia: Yeah, I've had a little bit of a go when I had my third, last baby Roma and I had a bit of a midlife crisis and created an Instagram account for the crazy, lazy lady and had a bit of a go into making videos and that's where the idea germinated from, isn't it?

[00:36:34] Amanda: And I'm just riding George's coattail and making her do all the work. 

[00:36:38] Georgia: I'm just trying to escape my family, what can I do to clear out. 

[00:36:43] Amanda: I've got to do it. Sorry. Yeah. 

[00:36:46] Georgia: It's talking about that thing of like, where are your priorities? I'm sure she's like, why do you got to go and do that. Okay. Thanks for sharing the load with the kids, it is that by getting the time away at this time in my life is a real challenge because the other partner is shouldering the burden and finding the balance. So you can both get some meantime and for me it's this creative stuff and be a real challenging one to negotiate and he's very supportive. He's very supportive. He's doing the editing and stuff for us. Getting that time works that'd be my one thing is oh, if I could just get more time. But it's, I think it's just a season of life. I have a struggle accepting that's the limitations that I have at the moment. But we always look like that the kids will grow up and get more time. It is a season of life. It seems all consuming. And you taking time out to do this. Even if this is you have your one creative project to sustain you through this and then as you get more time to be able to, you haven't lost touch with it. Yeah. 

[00:37:51] Judith Bowtell: My sister is a mad keen athlete. Working out is her happy space. She said when she had her babies, her trainer said to her, look for the next four five years, you just got to keep a connection to the thing that you're passionate about. You're not going to be breaking records. You're not going to be taking on new things. You're not going to do that. You just got to keep the connection to it. And I think that's the great thing. If you can keep a connection, like while you're going through transitioning your work, if you can at least keep a connection to your creativity through this, through working group, whatever, you're going to be able to then build from that as you go, as you get the more time, as you get the more freedom.

[00:38:31] Amanda: And you don't have to start from zero. Yeah.

[00:38:33] Judith Bowtell: No. And sometimes people think it's all or nothing and it's not. It's never, it never is. It's, if you can do one thing, one if you've got a passion in life and you go, oh, I'd love to be able to dedicate myself to go save the rainforest in Amazon that's my passion in life. Okay, that might not be possible right now. What can you do that's aligned with that passion that keeps you a connection? Maybe you can just go to do a volunteer project once or twice a year, it's something that you can keep supporting something, you can listen, you can learn whatever it is, just keep a connection to it. Because you never know, what's going to happen next and when you're going to have an opportunity to go, Oh, actually. Your construction business might boom and you're going to have all the time in the world. And I hope it does because the construction industry needs booming companies. yeah. I've got a bathroom I need fixed. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think that's great what you're demonstrating is that ability to do something and it's great. It's actually like a huge thing. Don't underestimate it as well. But it's like you keep a connection to your creativity. Yeah. 

[00:39:41] Amanda: Yeah. You're right., 

[00:39:43] Georgia: It's just something in there. 

[00:39:45] Amanda: Yeah. I really like that. That was lovely. 

[00:39:48] Georgia: I did go through every week and I'm like, oh, I want to just get that done and that done and I didn't do that and I didn't do that. I'm only doing this and but it's great to reframe it like that and go actually, no, we're creating a podcast. We're putting it out. We're yes, there was a thousand other things that I wanted to do as well, but it's not realistic to fit it in. But we are doing this, we're getting it done. We're getting it out there fortnightly. Yeah, we are achieving that. Yeah.

[00:40:11] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Yeah. And that's that is great. You are achieving that. And then there'll be something to build from it, or something to transition into, because that's the nature of creativity as well, is that it's always evolving. So yeah, I'm saying this to myself too yeah, it's great to have goals. It's great to have ambitious goals. But you also want to be able to achieve them too. So it's 

[00:40:33] Amanda: Yeah, I'm murdered for just being like, oh, maybe I'll write a novel in a week. Or just something, just silly stuff, or just even if it, six months, that's also unrealistic for a novel. To go. Yeah. So yeah. And then setting those goals, failing at them. Double to just be like, okay. Yeah. Like he was saying, we was talking off the mics about yes. Small, modest actions. And then you have that and you get that sense of achievement.

[00:40:58] Judith Bowtell: Yeah.

[00:40:59] Amanda: Yeah that's changed my way of it. It changed my

[00:41:01] Judith Bowtell: Yeah. Yeah. Cause you don't always have to go. My mission in life, is to teach people. You don't like everyone says you've got to break out of your comfort zone to achieve things. It's I go no. Adding comfort zone is just painful. There's a reason why it's called the comfort zone. Like that's where you get stressed. And a bit of stress is important, but too much is just debilitating. And that's why we have mental health injuries. And so finding things that take you up to what my great mentor said that Lorna, we should say it was the learning edge. What's your next learning edge? And she taught me how to be a coach. And she's what's your next learning edge in coaching? And I got, Oh, not another one. We've just done all this work, Lorna. And she goes no, come on. What are you going to challenge yourself with next? And I'd be like oh, I'm going to practice.

[00:41:45] Amanda: Judith that's interesting because yeah, when we were talking off the mics before about that learning edge, you saying, cause the comfort zone sounds so nice, such a nice space to be. And I'm like, yes, good. I can do that. I feel confident here. And then you said like I'm challenge around the edges and I had a real visual for me being like, nice and crazy here, but I'm like pushing against it a little bit. Yeah, it's like putting your toe in the water. The rest of you is warm though, so that's fine. Because you're right about if you challenge yourself, pushing yourself too far. Yeah, I'm just going to fall in the water and drown.

[00:42:16] Judith Bowtell: Yeah or it's often also putting up with a horrible situation because you think it's going to do good for you. So yeah, thank you so much for being with us on Aligned and Thriving. It's wonderful to see people being Aligned and Thriving and working on their passion. And I would love to have you come back one day and we can perhaps delve into the origin stories, because we love origin stories here. And and wish you all the best for the future. So thank you. And so please check out Going Loco. We'll have all the details and all the spots you can listen to it in our show notes. You're on Spotify, Apple. Everything that we can possibly do. So check it out and I tell you, you will enjoy it. And we'll look forward to seeing you next time, and also, of course, seeing you on Going Loco. Thanks so much, Georgia and Amanda. Bye, bye for now.

[00:43:08]